The Bear

LibraryReads Pick!

BuzzFeed “Most Anticipated Books of the Year” selection

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From National Book Award in Fiction finalist Andrew Krivak comes a gorgeous fable of Earth’s last two human inhabitants, and a girl’s journey home

In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last of humankind. But when the girl finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness that offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen.

A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature’s dominion.

Advance Praise for The Bear

“Beautiful. . . . A powerful allegory about the struggles and graces of life.” —America Magazine

“A dreamy, poetic novel that imagines a (nearly) humanless Earth as a thing of beauty.” —BuzzFeed

“With artistry and grace . . . Krivak delivers a transcendent journey into a world where all living things—humans, animals, trees—coexist in magical balance, forever telling each other’s unique stories. This beautiful and elegant novel is a gem.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A moving post-apocalyptic fable for grown-ups. . . . Ursula K. Le Guin would approve.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Engagingly different. . . . Unfolds in graceful, luminous prose.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“[Krivak’s] sentences are polished stones of wonder. . . . The elegiac tone reflects what is lost and what will be lost, an enchantment as if Wendell Berry had reimagined Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.” —Booklist

“A lovely, unforgettable experience.” —Foreword Reviews

“In spare and lovely prose, Andrew Krivak folds the deep past and the far future into a remarkable fable about our inheritance as humanity makes a harmonic return to the spirit and animal worlds. This book follows you, like a river under ice.” —Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son and Fortune Smiles

“A tight yet expansive novel in prose so vivid you forget these are words and not the cedar, trout, and stones of a post-Anthropocene Earth. Through the middle of The Bear walks an unnamed girl whose determination to go on living will fill you with awe.” —Salvatore Scibona, author of The End and The Volunteer

“ReadingThe Bear will bring you back to the wonder-filled stories of childhood, the sort that linger, that alter our understanding of the world, that shape who we become. Such is the simple and profound power of Krivak’s unexpectedly hopeful novel. Crafted with as much care and mastery as the finest oaken bow, this is a book that manages to be both timeless and urgent, clear-eyed and tender-hearted, archetypal and unconventional: a bedtime tale told by a prophet. A wonder in itself.” —Josh Weil, author of The New Valley and The Age of Perpetual Light

What Booksellers Are Saying About The Bear

“This is as close to a perfect novel as I’ve read. . . . Krivak is working with the care and atmosphere of Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams and the dire sentimentality of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, but is tuned to a higher and more eternal frequency. I will treasure The Bear, and am so glad it exists to counterbalance these futile, furious times.” —Robert Martin, Independent Booksellers Consortium Executive Director

“Beautifully written. . . . [The Bear] is a fable that will move into your heart as well as your mind, and stay there forever.” —Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore

“I could not put down The Bear. Although an easy read, the masterful storytelling of Andrew Krivak challenges readers with ideas of survival and adventure amidst loss. . . . A simply beautiful read.” —Heidi Carter, Bogan Books

“A sparsely told story that leaves you questioning whether we are more than just our memories.” —Sydne Conant, A Room of One’s Own

“What a balm to read a book so lovely that moves at a measured pace in this fast-paced age. . . . This is a book that takes the reader to heart: a story to be savored, a grace to be received.” —Sheryl Cotleur, Copperfield’s Books

“Krivak’s nature writing is simply divine. This lyrical fable has a few white-knuckled moments, but it’s the story’s tender spirituality that kept me up reading through the night.” —Emily Crowe, An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Café

“Tender and lyrical, beautifully descriptive and with just enough suspense to temper the story, The Bear is divine.” —Lee Virden Geurkink, Monkey and Dog Books 

“Ancient in its rhythm and content, Andrew Krivak’s The Bear reads as a folktale from an entirely possible, fast-approaching future. The lives that may very well be lived by the last of us are lyrically and lovingly articulated across these pages.” —Jack Hawthorn, Raven Book Store

“The Bear is a beautifully written modern fable. . . . It feels both timeless and very much of our time, as it plays on anxieties about climate change and the end of human civilization.” —Kathleen Keenan, A Novel Spot Bookshop

“Read The Bear to be transformed.” —Laura Mills, Brazos Bookstore

“This book is majestic! A beautiful and poignant tribute to nature and the resiliency of the spirit.” —Rachel Oriatti, Anderson’s Bookshop

“Flora and fauna further a companionless young woman’s education in survival in The Bear. I fought tears throughout the girl’s journey: her story is THAT BEAUTIFUL!.” —Kayleen Rohrer, InkLink Books 

“This was such an interesting book. Not very long, but the way the prose felt slow and meaningful pulled me in and made me slow down to read it. . . . When I finished, I felt like I’d had an experience, not just read a book.” —Izzy Stringham, Bookbinders Basalt

“A stunningly quiet, simple, and perfect book.” —Kay Wosewick, Boswell Book Company

Praise for Andrew Krivak

“Some writers are good at drawing a literary curtain over reality, and then there are writers who raise the veil and lead us to see for the first time. Krivak belongs to the latter.” —National Book Award judges’ citation for The Sojourn

“[Krivak’s] sentences accrue and swell and ultimately break over a reader like water: they are that supple and bracing and shining.” —Leah Hager Cohen

“Incandescent.” —Marlon James

“A writer of rare and powerful elegance.” —Mary Doria Russell

“Destined for great things.” —Richard Russo

“[A] singular talent.” —Jesmyn Ward

“An extraordinarily elegant writer, with a deep awareness of the natural world.” ―New York Times Book Review

“[Krivak] bring[s] out the vast compassion, humanity and love of his rich, fully developed characters.” —Star Tribune

“Krivak’s story and characters are mythic.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Krivak has his own voice, given to lyrical observations on the nature of human existence.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Praise for The Sojourn

• National Book Award Finalist

• Chautauqua Prize Winner

• Dayton Literary Peace Prize Winner

• American Booksellers Association Indie Next List 

• Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection

“A story that celebrates, in its stripped down but resonant fashion, the flow between creation and destruction we all call life.” —Dayton Literary Peace Prize judges’ citation

“A novel of uncommon lyricism and moral ambiguity that balances the spare with the expansive.” —Chautauqua Prize committee citation

“A gripping and harrowing war story that has the feel of a classic.” —NPR.org “Year’s Top Book Club Picks” citation

“Splendid. . . . A novel for anyone who has a sharp eye and ear for life.” —NPR All Things Considered

“A beautiful tale of persistence and dogged survival.” —Los Angeles Times

“[A] powerful, assured first novel.” —Washington Post

“A classic of war. . . . Beautifully plotted, as rapt and understated as a hymn.” —Plain Dealer

“An undeniably powerful accomplishment.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Unsentimental yet elegant. . . . With ease, [The Sojourn] joins the ranks of other significant works of fiction portraying World War I.” —Library Journal (starred review) 

• Buzz Books by Publishers Lunch featured title

• American Booksellers Association Winter Institute pre-publication author appearance and signing

• American Library Association Annual conference pre-publication author appearance and galley signing

• Book Expo America book club promotion

• Regional independent bookseller fall trade show pre-publication promotion

• Galley giveaways: NetGalley, Edelweiss, Goodreads, and LibraryThing

• Major media campaign

• Online and social media campaigns

• 5-city national tour and regional New England author events